Franklin Reed Fitz, 82, of Palm Harbor, died Sunday [Feb. 15, 2004] at Bay Tree Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, Palm Harbor. He was born in Flushing, N.Y., and came here in 1989 from Queens, N.Y. He was a professor and department chairman for the Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and a captain for the New York City Fire Department. He was a Marine Corps veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He was Protestant, a member of the Marine Corps League, the Marine Lunch Bunch, the U.S. Marine Raider Association and the Edson’s First Raiders Association. Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Elizabeth “Betty”; three daughters, Elizabeth Hedrick, Orlando, Cynthia Welch, Spring Valley, Calif., and Melissa Syage, Bridgewater, N.J.; a sister, Myra Love, Dresher, Pa.; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Curlew Hills Funeral Home, Palm Harbor.

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